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Five EMU football players suspended indefinitely

There’s not much information about this, so there’s not much to do but repeat the EMU press release.

“I have suspended Steve Brown, Tyrone Burke, Tim Fort, Dwayne Priest, and Latarrius Thomas indefinitely due to violation of team rules,” EMU Head Football Coach Ron English said.

According to EMU’s press release all five players continue to practice with the team.

The biggest on-field impact to the team will probably be the loss of two starting linebackers; Fort leads the defense with 68 tackles (39 solo, 29 assisted) and has started all eight games, while Brown has also started the last three games. Thomas has barely played this fall due to injuries, and a nagging groin injury has also slowed Priest; before the suspension he had already been demoted to the backup running back for this weekend. Burke is a contributor at wide receiver, and like Fort he’s started all eight games, but Alex Gillett has other targets who are just as good.

It’s worth noting that Brown is a junior and the other four suspended players are seniors. It’s obvious to me that Ron English is trying to send a message to the team. We’ve seen English just quietly bench players so many times that the simple act of announcing the suspensions makes this incident remarkable.